Entrepreneurial learning is important to efforts to tackle youth unemployment, which is higher than for the whole population (12.9% in contrast to 5% for the age group of 15+ in 2017) – especially in VET because secondary vocational education graduates underperform those from secondary general education in finding work. Also, high levels of self-employment driven by family businesses show the potential of entrepreneurial learning. The SME Agency’s Lifelong Learning Commission leads a structured policy partnership, coordinating the activities of government and non-government actors. Official documents like strategic roadmaps create a transparent and supportive policy background.
However, the learning module, materials, guidebooks, and online sources for VET and higher education cover only parts of the key competence, like financial and economic literacy, planning, idea creation, market analysis or legal aspects. Primary, lower and upper secondary education are not involved. Practical entrepreneurial experience is compulsory in selected VET and higher education specialities, e.g. through student companies, company visits, participation in fairs and events or, for higher-education students, in factories and techno-parks. Secondary education is excluded. Bachelor programs like Commerce, Business Management and Economy or secondary vocational schools in some specialties include 14 weeks of practice.
Self-employment is a career option in career guidance in initial and secondary vocational education and higher education, according to the State Standards of Initial Technical Vocational Education and the Career Guidance Action Plan for Initial Technical Vocational Education Schools. Education-business co-operation supports this; e.g. Memoranda of Understanding between the VET agency and about 100 enterprises facilitate company visits, practical training and exchange. Co-operation between higher education and business is based on bilateral agreements to establish techno-parks, incubators, innovation centres or labs within universities or branches in companies. Co-operation between SMEs and general secondary education is reduced to ad hoc actions like “open door” days.
National action plans implementing strategic roadmaps have clear allocated funds and include the promotion of formal and non-formal entrepreneurial learning in VET. Monitoring and evaluation are part of roadmaps clarifying responsibilities, reporting, monitoring, deadlines and budget sources. VET students (school level) and general secondary students (national level) are tracked, as school management reports to the Ministry of Education annually about graduates’ employment.
Looking forward, in the short term, there is a need to introduce annual work plans for the Lifelong Learning Commission and to develop an agreed understanding of what the entrepreneurship key competence means for Azerbaijan – considering, for example, the 2018 Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences for lifelong learning. Subsequently, a dedicated strategy defining the key competence and reform path should be created. In the medium term, entrepreneurship as key competence should be developed at all education levels, through the use of active teaching and learning methods and training for pre- and in-service teachers as well as school and university managers. Teacher-qualification standards to introduce a key competence approach are required. Also in the medium term, a system-level approach to education-business co-operation also for general secondary schools is needed, e.g. by extending the Career Guidance action plan and introducing incentives for businesses, e.g. on taxes (ETF, 2016[12]). Monitoring and evaluation should be enhanced by focusing on progress and performance in implementing entrepreneurial learning, by involving non-government organisations and by sharing the results of reforms with the public. Finally, student tracking should be extended to at least two years to determine impact on employability.